Redemption
by HerBreadBoyPN
Summary: Katniss has been back in District 12 for months, but her condition has only been getting worse. Will Peeta be able to bring the girl that he loves back or will her downward spiral continue? Post-Mockingjay. AU. Rated M for chapters to come.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, all credit to the story line goes to Suzanne Collins. This is just my take on the ending. Enjoy. **

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Peeta had not been home to District 12 since before the Quarter Quell, sure he had seen the footage of the district after the Capitol's finds firebombs had bombarded it, but that was much different from viewing it up close and personal like he was about to. He is almost shaking in anticipation, as he pictures the charred remains of the bakery once more. All that had remained of his former home were a few ovens. The rest had been completely incinerated. The faces of his brothers, his mother, and his father run through his head. He tries desperately to hold them, but after all the adjustments the Capitol had made to his memory the memories were quickly fleeting from his head. He could no longer hold their appearances. All of the photos from his childhood reduced to ash.

The hovercraft that was bringing him home now began its descent and he almost wished that it was just stopping for fuel. Peeta was not sure that he could face the visions. The captain of the vessel calls back to him, "Please get ready to disembark. We have to get this craft back to Thirteen before the night is out." Peeta gives the captain a polite nod, but does not share his approval as he is afraid that his voice will falter and show just how worried he is, and stands up, grabbing the small bag that had been given to him upon his release. It contained a couple of pairs of clothes, a new tooth-brush, a small tube of tooth paste, a roll of deodorant, and two small bottles containing shampoo, and body wash. The trip here had taken longer than he had anticipated, and Peeta now understood the reasoning behind the toiletries. It had taken nearly three days to get home. This in itself was a form of torture as the anxiety had time to build instead of just being done.

The captain told him to hold on, and he obeyed immediately as the hovercraft hit the ground with a thud. The impact made him crash into the wall of the craft, and his breathing sped up. "Oh no." Peeta thought, "Not now. I cannot have an attack. The doctors were finally letting me go home. I am going to have to act like nothing's wrong. All I have to do is full this pilot. "

The captain seemed to have noticed Peeta's odd behavior and quickly asked: "Are you alright?" Peeta answers quickly so as not to draw any suspicion. "Yes. I'm fine. Just ready to get off of this craft. I am sure you can understand. I have not been home in over a year. Not since the Quell. " The driver's expression lightens softly, and he smiles as he answers, "Oh if that's all, by all means. Go ahead" He flips a switch and the door that Peeta was standing next to opens. Peeta hesitates slightly, but leaves as he does not want the guard to know that what he said was a lie.

Peeta's feet hit the ground and he takes in his surroundings. What he is in can only be described as the remains of the meadow. It is dusty, and grey but there are remnants of what appears to be trees, and the outline of the fence is clearly visible in the distance. The sun is barely visible in that horizon and the air around him is starting to turn what can only be described as hoa sort of grey. Peeta sees the smoldering ruins in the distance and knows that he is going to have to go through them to make it to his me in the Victor's Village.

He begins his journey to the town, as he knows that it is inevitable anyway. Peeta tries not to focus on any the place, and let's his eyes wander. It is actually kind or relieving that most of the sights are charred beyond recognition, and he is not entirely sure where he is until he arrives in the Square, or that is what's left of it. The thing that gave it away were the stocks that Thread had installed while he was head Peacekeeper. Thread wanted those who were found worthy of punishment to be on full display before the district. It was his sick idea of fun.

Something catches Peeta's eye though as he is walking. There is a teddy bear lying on the ground next to a pile of ash. He bends down and picks it up and as he does a breeze rolls through the town blowing the ash away. It does not occur to him until this happens that the pile could have been the toy's former owner. He throws it to the ground almost instantly in almost a panic. Peeta buries his face into his hands and tries to fight off the terrible memories that are threatening to surface from the deepest depths of his mind, and collapses to the ground. Memories of the Games, and the torture and the Capitol come to the front of his mind. He is shaking on the ground, trembling in fear as he re-lives his past.

He is not sure how long he is there shaking when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Her soothing voice begins to pull him from his suffering, as he slowly but surely returns to reality. Peeta opens his eyes and that's when he sees them. Those grey eyes that still had the power to mystify him. He feels his own eyes widen as he looks at the face of their owner, Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss had walked back home from the woods. She had been hunting as Greasy Sae had advised, but she had no motivation to, so she was coming home empty-handed. Now that it was just her she saw no reason for her to be out in the woods other than to relax in the one safe haven that she had left. Just as she had said before, the woods were her savior, the one place where she smiled. Well that is only half-true now, she had not smiled since the rebellion. The war had in fact broken her. It had taken all that she held near and dear to her, and twisted it into a jumbled, unrecognizable mess. She didn't have a single person left that she cared about. Prim was dead, her mother would never return to District Twelve because it was filled with too many horrible memories, She had pushed Gale away, and Peeta; who knew where he was or what mental institute he was locked in. As bad as the rebellion had changed her, it made a complete mess of the boy with the bread. He was a hollow shell of his former self. The sweet, caring Peeta was buried down inside of him somewhere, but it was going to take some coaxing to get him to appear again.

Katniss was so lost in her thoughts, that she had barely noticed the hovercraft that was taking off. "Dropping off more citizens, I guess," she muttered to herself as she continued to walk into town. She has just passed the ruins of the Square, when she saw something writhing on the ground. She had thought it was an animal of some sort until she got closer, that is. She soon realized that it was a person, and she rushed to his side. The blonde hair and face had not been enough to alert her of who it was. It's when he opens his vivid blue eyes and locks them on hers that she finally realizes that this is Peeta. She takes a step back, half-afraid that he was going to hurt her just as he had done when he first arrived to Thirteen. She then questions him just to be sure that it is in fact him, "Peeta, is that you?" even though he looks exactly like he had before the Games. Same hair, same eyes, same stocky build. He looked healthy and as much as she hates to admit it to herself, he looked attractive.

Peeta nearly jumped out of his skin as his eyes scanned over her. He had nearly forgotten that Katniss had returned here to Twelve. The thought of seeing the place in ruins had distracted him completely from seeing his former flame, if you can call her that. Peeta was no longer sure of his feelings for her. She had saved him in the Capitol, and did not kill him even when it was probably the best option, and he had saved her from killing her self in the Capitol after she had assassinated President Coin. He could not see her take her own life. It would have killed him after all she had done for him, but does that mean that he still cares for her? He finds that he was unsure of his own intentions. Does he still like her, does she still like him? The whole matter is making Peeta's head hurt and he decides that it is probably not the best time to be thinking through all of this right after an attack. It takes a minute to process her words though. She is either in disbelief or she in fact does not recognize him.

Peeta answers her trying to use his most steady voice, "Yes, Katniss. It is." He then takes a moment to take in her reaction, hoping that she doesn't freak out, but she took a step back. He tries to push himself up off of the ground, but his body is still too weak from the attack, so he lies there on his back, feeling like a helpless turtle as he looks up at her. Her body language is screaming get away from me, though. "...How are you, Katniss?" He asked this far more awkwardly than he had meant to. Time had proved to be the perfect way to make things awkward between them.

Katniss looked down at him in disbelief, she had been almost certain that Peeta was going to attack her, so that he didn't shocked her. She looked deeply into his eyes, and saw nothing but confusion. Peeta did not look angry, or like he thought she was a mutt, or anything. Why did that shock her? "This is how most normal people look," she thought to herself, "What was he doing here anyway?" The meaning behind Peeta's presence bounced around in her head for a minute, that is until she heard his words. "How do you think I am, Peeta? " Katniss flashed him one of her famous contemptuous stares, and immediately regretted it. Peeta was just trying to start a conversation, and she had completely brushed him off, just like usual. She doesn't apologize, though that would make her seem weak.

Peeta looks down ashamed of his question, he really should have thought that through, but he had not entirely sure what to say to her. I mean he hasn't seen her in months, but he does notice something as he looks back up at her. "Is that a sliver of regret?" He wonders to himself as he gazes deeply into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I should have thought what I said through," Peeta says with a sigh. The last thing that he wanted to do was upset Katniss.

Katniss just stares at him for a minute. "Did he really just apologize to me, for me being rude to him," she wondered to herself, nothing else seems to make sense to her at the moment. She walks up and gingerly offers him a hand. "No, Peeta. You have done nothing to apologize for." She smiles slightly and it dawns on her that this is in fact the first time that she had smiled since the rebellion. This gives her a start, "had Peeta coaxed this reaction out of me? I mean it can't just be a coincidence that he had been the only one to make me smile can it?"

Peeta's fingers lock around Katniss's before his mind has time to realize what it is that he is doing. Maybe he should be more cautious with how he is feeling, but then again maybe he should just follow his instincts. It is safe to say that thoughts are running through Peeta's head at a rate of a million to one. All he knows is that he wants to talk some more with Katniss. He pulls himself up with her hand and takes a standing place next to her. He keeps a firm grip on her hand and lightly entwined their fingers, not wanting to let go of it.

Katniss is glad when Peeta pulls himself up off of the ground, but is slightly leery as he entwined their fingers. A small alarm goes off in her head telling her that she was leading him on again, but somewhere inside of her it clicks, "No, this isn't leading him on. I have really felt something for Peeta in the past, and I am giving it a chance," thought Katniss. She was going to actually open herself up to the possibility of a future, with love. The Games were over, and she no longer had any reason to fight with herself on this matter. There was no reason she could deny herself of being happy, was there? The thought of all the people who had lost their lives hits her like a ton of bricks. The overwhelming sadness, the pain of the loss is now fresh in her memory again. She does not pull away from Peeta though.

Katniss takes note of the sun sinking lower and lower into the sky and turns to look at Peeta seeing the sunset illuminate in a way that can only be described as beautiful. She blushes a light shade of pink and turns to him. "Do you want to go somewhere where we can talk? It seems to be getting dark here." It took a lot for her to be this forward with him.

Peeta stares at her in shock for a moment. He cannot remember the last time that Katniss had been this direct with him. The blush that is painting her cheeks catches him off guard though. What had she seen that made her blush like that? He looks around and the only thing or person that around is him. This discovery makes him blush, and look down. "That sounds nice. I would love to catch up somewhere." He says with a small smile before she pulls him off down the path to the Village obviously satisfied with his answer.

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**Hope you enjoyed, I cannot wait to get Chapter 2 out for you guys. Leave me a review if you can. It would much appreciated. **


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